


Fear of the fall

by The_Red_Bandit



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Donnie's there too but he isn't thaaaat important, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fear of Heights, Fluff and Angst, Mainly Leo stuff, Splinter is mentioned once, a lot of Mikey, a lot of Raph at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25658629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Red_Bandit/pseuds/The_Red_Bandit
Summary: After Leo was thrown off the roof of Big Mama's hotel he's been having bad nightmares induced by his sudden fear of heights.His brothers try to figure out why he's acting so weird and help him.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 108





	Fear of the fall

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after the events of "Bug Busters"  
> I like to headcanon Leon as insecure as I feel there's hints of it dropped in the show. So there's a little of that in here too.

Falling

He was falling

The wind was harsh against his scales as he plummeted. Closer and closer to his death. He didn’t want to die. He wasn’t ready. His chest was tight, the pressure of the air as he pushed through it making it hard to breath. If he even was breathing. He couldn’t tell. He wanted to cry. He knew Raph will blame himself for this. Leo felt tears well up in his eyes. He’ll never see them again. He couldn’t help picturing his brothers finding him smashed on the pavement down below. Taking his limp body home. Their dad, dropping his tea cup in shock as he saw Leon’s broken body….

Leo was flailing. Instinctively trying to catch onto something to stop his decent even though he knew it was hopeless. And even if it wasn’t if he managed to grab onto something it’d probably tear the arm off him. A flash of red and Raph’s voice brought him out of his thoughts and he managed to fling himself around to look up, shell facing the ground as red reached for him. Hope welled in his chest until. A gust of wind sent Leo spiralling out of control again as Raph shot passed him. 

He missed. Leo’s heart sank. Raph missed him. Through the world spinning around him as he tried to regain control of his fall he saw Raph land and the large red glow vanished. He heard Raph scream. He think he said his name but Leo was having trouble hearing, his ears has popped earlier. He could only hear a sharp ring.

Leo let out one last scream as the ground came up fast. Everything flashed white and then black right before he hit.

Leo gasped as his eyes flew open. He flailed, and let out a cry as the surface under him disappeared and he fell hard onto the floor. He wrestled himself out of his blanket and sat up breathing heavily. A hand clutching his chest as he looked wildly around his dark room. He slowly regained control of his breathing and leaned against his bed. He took a couple of deep shuddering breathes before pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around his head. 

A dream….it was just a dream. Raph didn’t miss. He caught him. He was safe and alive. They both were. 

After he took a couple minutes to calm himself down, he shakily gets to his feet. He looks at his bed and frowns. He knew he was being ridiculous now. He wedges his hands under his mattress and slides it off the bed, hooking his foot in his blanket that was strewn against the floor and flicking it out of the way. He gently sets the mattress down on the floor and fixes his pillows. It was early morning, way too early to be up and he was exhausted. He gingerly lay back in bed close to the edge so his arm can hang over the little ledge and rest on the floor. The nice, safe, floor. After sighing a shaky breath he fixes his sleep mask over his eyes and tries to get back to sleep. 

“Oh Leonaaaardooooo~ Wakey wakey eggs and bakey,” Mikey’s voice sang through the darkness. “Uh….Leo? Why’s your mattress on the floor?” 

Leo groans softly. Luckily after managing to finally fall asleep again he didn’t have anymore dreams. But he still felt tired. “Go away Mike,” he rolls over so he’s turned away from Mikey and pulls the blanket over his head. 

“Come on Leo. It’s time to get up, Dee is gonna eat your breakfast again if you don’t get up right now,” he tries to sound stern.

“He can have it,” Leo mumbles before yawning and snuggling into his pillow.

“Ee-gad! Leo surrendering his breakfast? Are you okay? You sick? What are your vital signs like?” he rolls Leo over and pulls the sleep mask off him and pries one of his eyes open as if he’s checking for pupil dilation. In response Leo lazily swings his arm up and pushes Mikey’s face back.

“ ‘m fine Mikey. Jus’ tired,” he yawns.

“Okay…” Mikey frowns. “So back to my first question then. What’s with the new sleeping arrangement?”

“Huh?” Leo sits up and rubs his eye tiredly. He drowsily looks around. “Oh yeah. Forgot I did that.” He stretches both his arms up behind his head and then turns over and stretches his legs out like a cat and then bends his knees to stretch his arms out again. He slowly pulls himself off of the mattress and stands up. Mikey watching his every move. He walks out of the room with Mikey following him. 

They enter the kitchen just as Donnie was reaching to take the plate of food at Leo’s seat. Leo walks over and smacks the hand away and sits down. “Buzz off Donald. You haven’t even finished your own,” he sounded like he hardly cared. He picks up a fork and moves the food on his plate around for a bit. Although he sat there for quite a while he ended up only taking one or two bites before getting up. “Thanks for the food,” he says as he stands and heads out of the kitchen. This made Donnie look a bit annoyed.

“If you weren’t even gonna touch it you should have just let me have it!” he calls out after him. He reaches over and takes Leo’s almost untouched food and starts to finish it off anyway.

“Leo’s acting weird,” Mikey hops up on the countertop and sits with his legs dangling.

“Huh? How so? He just wasn’t hungry,” Raph says from where he had been trying to unpeel an orange the entire time. 

“He was sleeping on the floor. Well he moved his mattress to the floor at least. He wouldn’t tell me why. I don’t know…I feel like something’s bothering him,” Mikey frowns.

“That is pretty weird,” Raph nods. “But I do think you’re overreacting. He seemed fine to me,” he shrugs, almost dropping his orange which he scrambled to catch. He sighs and holds it. “Hey Don-“

“Say no more,” Donnie reaches over and takes the orange and peels it for him before handing it back. He looks at Mikey. “Just leave Leo alone for now. If he started getting weird ask him about it. But right now he just seemed tired. It’s no big deal.”

“I hope so…” Mikey gets up and leaves the room. He found Leo at the skate ramp. He was about to call out but stopped himself to watch Leo. He looked hesitant? He watches as Leo closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He pushes off and speeds down the ramp on his board. Perfect form as always. Until he flew up to the top of the other side. As soon as Leo’s board left the ramp, he saw the sliders eyes widen and he flailed as he lost control and fell. He tumbles down the ramp and slides to the middle. 

“Leo! You okay?!” Mikey rushes to him. “You ate serious concrete dude.”

Leo groans softly and sits up, swaying slightly. Everything was disoriented. “Y-yeah I’m okay,” he sways a bit before falling on his shell. He didn’t feel okay though. He doesn’t know what happened. He’d done that a million times. But why did this time he felt so terrified when there was no ground beneath him. 

___________________________________________________________________________

A few days pass. Mikey had been trying to keep an eye on Leo but he did start to seem fine. Aside from him not using the skate ramp he seemed back to himself. His brothers were right. Leo was fine and he was worrying for nothing. 

In the middle of the night, Mikey wakes up instinctively. “Bathroom,” he says to himself and swings himself out of bed. He runs to the bathroom. As he’s walking back to his room he slows as he passes Leo’s room. Leo was talking. Who was he talking to? Mikey stands still near Leo’s door for a moment. He didn’t want to barge in on him. But Leo didn’t sound good…Mikey creeps to the entrance and slowly moves the curtain back. “Leo?” he whispers.

“N-no…R-Raph, give him the bugs,” Leo was still lying on his mattress which was still on the floor. Leo had moved around so much that his blanket was on the ground next to it. Suddenly Leo’s breathing picked up and he tossed his head back and forth. 

Mikey realizes that Leo’s having a nightmare and desperate to stop his brothers bad dream he hurries over. “Leo! Wake up!” he shakes his shoulder. “You’re just dreaming!”

Leo shot upright suddenly. His head collided with Mikey’s head causing the box turtle to reel back and fall on his butt, holding his head in his hands.

“Oooow! “ Leo complains, he pulls his sleep mask off and rubs his throbbing head. He spots Mikey. “Mikey?”

“Nice headbutt dude. Use that against the foot next time,” Mikey jokes, rubbing his head.

“What are you doing in my room?” he grabs his phone real quick and turns it on. “At 3 in the morning?” he sets it back down and looks at Mikey.

“You were having a nightmare. I woke you up…”

“Oh….” Leo frowns before looking at Mikey with a forced smile. “I’m fine now then. You should go back to your room and get some sleep. We’re patrolling tomorrow so you should get some rest while you can.”

Mikey hesitates. He doesn’t want to leave it at that. But at the same time maybe he shouldn’t pry into it right now… suddenly an idea strikes him. He stands up. “Okay buddy. Good night. Sorry I woke you,” He’ll talk to Raph about it in the morning. After all, Leo said his name in his dream so maybe Raph might know something that’s bothering him. 

“Good night bro,” Leo says cheerfully as Mikey leaves the room. 

___________________________________________________________________________

Raph was keeping a close eye on his blue masked brother. Mikey had told him about his nightmare and when he explained it, it gave Raphael a feeling of dread. He needed to confirm his suspicions though. After that first day when he told Mikey that it was probably nothing he also started to notice something off with Leonardo. He wasn’t eating much. He didn’t even touch his pizza last night! That’s when you know it’s serious! He also hasn’t been skateboarding at all on the ramp. He’d sometimes ride around on the ground like to the kitchen or around the couch but he hasn’t gone near the ramp which is odd. 

Meanwhile Leo, not knowing Raph was paying much attention to him. Was freaking out, he knew it was over nothing. Which was the worst part. He knew he was being a baby. But he couldn’t let them know. It’s way too embarrassing and he was already insecure enough about his place on the team. He didn’t need them thinking he was even more useless than he already felt. They emerged from the sewers through a manhole and into an alleyway. 

“Okay boys. To the rooftop!” Raph says. Giving Leo a quick glance. Mikey catapulted himself onto the fire escape and easily made his way to the roof. Donnie went next, not bothering to use the fire escape he deployed his jetpack and flew up after Mikey. “Let’s go Leo,” Raph jumps and catches the ladder a little way up. He looks down at Leo.

“yeah…right behind you,” he gives the thumbs up. He takes a noticeable deep breath and jumps up to the first rung where he hangs for a moment before following Raph up, focusing his attention up at Raph’s spikey shell.

Can’t let them know. Can’t let them know. Can’t let them know. Can’t let them know.

It felt like Raph was going slow on purpose!! 

Raph was going slow on purpose. He knew it was probably not very nice of him but call it a test of sorts. He finally gets to the top and moves for Leo to come up. Leo immediately picked up speed and scrambles up. Raph notes how he quickly gets himself away from the edge and more toward the middle of the roof. Raph frowns to himself. He can’t really decide if that means anything or if it’s just a coincidence. 

“Heeeey so now that we’re up here I just realized. Maybe we should have a ground patrol too. It’d be a lot more efficient. I…” Leo was saying but Raph knew where he was going and cut him off. 

“Good idea Leo. Donnie, Mikey, you go patrol on the ground. Let us know if you find anything.”

“Will do chief!” Mikey salutes and flips into the air, Donnie catches his arms.

“Roger! Ground patrol away!” Donnie flies back down to the ground with Mikey.

Leo’s arms flops to his sides and he stood with a slouch and a gaping jaw. He shakes his head and stands up straight. Seeming nervous. “Mhm, Well thanks for uh…taking my suggestion… I guess…”

“Great, let’s go Leo,” Raph picks the closest building and easily jumps the gap. It wasn’t a large gap. At least for them. It was a rather easy jump. Raph lands and turns to wait for Leo.

Leo gulps. “You can do this,” he whispers to himself, too quiet for Raph to hear over on the other roof. “Just don’t look down. You’ve done this lots of times.”

Leo braces himself and jumps to the next building. His landing was…a bit less then graceful. He was only focusing on getting across the gap, as soon as his feet touched the roof he tumbled. Having it down to an art though he made the tumble look at least a little bit intentional and leaped to his feet in the same motion. “Aaand touch down,” Leo proclaims loudly.

Raph frowns. Something was off. “Lets keep moving,” The next gap was a little wider. He easily jumps it and waits for Leo. This time Leo hesitated too long and when he jumped he miss-judged the length of the gap. His foot touched the very edge of the roof. He starts to fall backwards.

“Oh no…” Leo gasped and tried to flail his arms to keep his balance, he saw Raph running towards him. Flashes of falling. Plummeting toward the ground. Raph missing him. They started to flash across his mind. He cries out as his foot slips. It’s happening again!

Leo felt a strong hand wrap around his forearm. The jerk from the sudden stop making his arm feel like it was about to pop out of socket. Leo tries to grip the hand holding his arm. His feet kicking trying to find a foothold. “Pull me up! Pull me up!” he says in a panic.

Raph heaves him up and falls back. Pulling Leo with him. 

“What happened?” Raph asks, worry etching his tone. 

“I-I don’t know,” Leo is trembling, a tear falls down his cheek.

“Leo? Are…oh jeez are you crying? It’s okay bro, I was right there. I got you…” he frowns.

Leo covers his face. I didn’t want to cry in front of any of his brothers. He just…his heart was racing, it’s hard to control his emotions right now. 

“Leo…Has something been bothering you? You always make that jump. You seem so on edge…You can tell me you know…”

Leo hugs his knees up to his chest. He knew he couldn’t hide it anymore. There was really no point. “Ever since…that night we fought Draxum up on the roof…you know…and he dropped me…I…I’ve been having dreams about it…except in my dreams…you missed me…the dream always stops just before I hit the ground but…” He curls up tighter. “It feels so real…I…I’m afraid of falling again…I…I think it gave me a fear of heights,” he admits quietly.

“Oh Leo…” Raph frowns. “Come here,” he moves and wraps his arms around Leo in a comforting hug. “Your big bro got you. I’m sorry…It’s my fault…I should have just given him the bugs…”

Leo’s silence told Raph that Leo must have agreed with him. Although he knows it’s the truth it hurts him to think that Leo partially blames him for his newfound phobia. Leo shuts his eyes tight and pushes his head against Raph’s chest. “Don’t tell the others…”

“I think Mikey knows already…He’s been really worried about you. I won’t tell them but…I do think they need to know. So you should tell them…When you’re ready. I’m sorry I dragged you up here. I kind of sort of had a feeling you were afraid of heights but I wanted to make sure.”

Leo immediately pushes away from him. “You did what now?” he does not sound happy. 

“It’s fine now though! I figured out what you were afraid of!” he grins.

Leo closes his eyes tightly and bonks Raph on the head with a clenched fist. “Knucklehead! I already knew what I was afraid of! You could have tried a less fear inducing approach.”

“Oh…right…sorry…” Raph says sheepishly. He lets go of Leo, who stands up. Raph stands up with him.

Leo looks at him. “Think you could…try to help me get over it? I don’t like not being able to do things…” he asks.

“Sure thing buddy. I’ll call Donnie and Mikey and get them to switch to the rooftop patrol. We’ll take the ground patrol for tonightl.”

Leo smiles and nods. “Fine by me,” he opens a portal and doesn’t waste time jumping in. Raph smiles and rolls his eyes. He dives in after him.

The End.


End file.
